Academy of Strategy
There are many ways to compose your armies or distribute them to the different fronts you will fight on, but, no matter what strategy you employ, it will be a subset or adaptation of these four classics. Polnaya Voyna Meaning "Total War" in Russian, this strategy focuses on drowning the enemy in cheap but large unit formations. Key Pieces: Infantry, Artillery, Elite Infantry, Destroyer, Submarine Advantages: * Grants relative safety and control of the situation during initial phases * Allows steamrolling after properly set and defeated enemies * Recommended for medium/wide fronts. Disadvantages: * Boring for the longest part * Not recommended for small countries who will find themselves quickly overrun or which do not have room to deploy them well(Denmark, Netherlands(Europe), Baltic countries, Netherlands(Asia), USA(Asia)) * Not recommended for insular warfare or tight fronts. Some common derivates: Total Assault: Improving the vehicle content of your armies, which add great breakthrough power and allow quicker advance and accomplishing strategic goals, at the cost of aggravating the attrition problems already existing. A Polnaya Voyna/Bewegungskrieg combination. Total Destruction: Improving the airforce allows you to wound enemy armies before engaging them, causing losses instead of merely pushing them back. Very costly and risky. A Polnaya Voyna/Superior Firepower combination. Deep Battle: Loosening your frontlines at a strategic level rather than tactical, in order to allow abusing the "Vagina Dentata" tactic. Also requires some motorised distributed around your frontlines. A Polnaya Voyna/Attrition Warfare combination Superior Firepower By far the most expensive war style, it centers around holding the enemy at bay while destroying them in detail from safe places. Bombers, battleships, tanks, this style rejoices in pure destruction of the enemy forces. Key Pieces: Infantry, Fighter, Bomber, Cruiser, Battleship Advantages: * Excellent battle control...as long as you have the money to spare * Purely awesome * Quick destruction of enemy forces * Unparalleled use against tight fronts. Disadvantages: * Requires great attention to the frontline and knowledge of partisan hotbeds * Doing a mistake has great consequences. * Worst style for a poor country(Tibet, Sinkiang, etc.) Variations: Tide of Iron: Emphasis on full Armored frontlines, guarded by Fighters on patrol, stomping the enemy frontline completely before advancing. A Superior Firepower/Polnaya Voyna combination. Bewegungskrieg Placing a disproportionate attention on speed and tactical prowess, this tactically-rich-strategically-barren style is the mark of experienced players. It aims to subjugate as many countries as possible in as short of a time as possible, with as little units as possible. Key pieces: Infantry, Motorized, Fightes, Submarine, Destroyer Advantages: * Early game booming due to unmobilized enemies. * Always exciting * Awesome for Balkan countries Disadvantages: * Quickest way to lose if you're tactically inept * Every division lost means a lot. * After reaching the initial expansion apex, you need to regroup quickly, or you will be destroyed in detail. Given the highly-localized nature, it is improper to say you can derivate Bewegungskrieg. Practically, every tactic you use is an assimilated deviation. Attrition Warfare Akin to Polnaya Voyna, it is carried by cheap units. Like Superior Firepower, it seeks to destroy the enemy in detail. Like Bewegungskrieg, it is tactically-heavy. Yet, it is an unique strategy. It employs defense rather than offense, and grinds down the attackers at the tactical level, followed by a small expansion, consolidation, and repeat. Key Pieces: Infantry, Elite Infantry, Motorized, Fighter, Submarine Advantages: * Hard to lose the game * Territorial advance has a steady pace * Recommended for small players and/or tight fronts Disadvantages: * Least exciting gamestyle There is, besides small adjustments like distributing artillery to the frontlines if the enemy fields armor or motorized if the frontline is straight, a derivate to this strategy Aggressive Defense: A mix between "Attrition Warfare" and "Blitzkrieg", is a series of maneuvers to cripple the enemy's invading forces before they get to accumulate, then retreat to the lines and reinforce or stay and consolidate.